Scarlet Fever
by Wafflegirl0304
Summary: There's this illness spreading around Ninjago. And, well, I'm not going to lie. It could kill us all. Yeah, even me. And I'm the one who started it. Rated T for blood.
1. Chapter 1

**Something really overdramatic and bloody that didn't need to be so but oh well. Felt guilty for not updating Unreal so... /throws fanfic ENJOY!**

He tossed and turned in bed, shivering even under the secure covers of his blankets. His body was cold, and he'd coughed so many times his chest hurt. The soft snoring of his brothers weren't heard over his own wheezing. He was so tired, but sleep would not come. It had been three whole hours since he'd gotten into this bed.

Three hours of sickness.

Slowly, the boy pushed himself into a sitting position and blinked in the darkness. His chest burned with the urge to cough again, but he held it in this time. His body ached, and he could barely see straight. Gingerly he pulled off his blue covers, exposing his legs to the coolness of midnight air. He slid off his bed and stumbled into the hallway. His laboured breathing sounded noisily in his ears. It made him wonder how anybody could sleep hearing him.

Or maybe it was just him.

Smoothing out his ruffled chestnut-shaded hair, the teenager walked blindly through the halls of the Bounty. A shiver ran down his spine, and this time it wasn't just from cold. He rubbed his arms, shaking but sweating. Another coughing attack hit him head-on, and he was practically choking on nothing. Drops of warm liquid splattered onto his hand which he didn't even bother wiping away.

He continued on his way, his knees doing their best not to buckle under the tired boy's weight. His vision began fading to a reddish tint, which he realised after staring out the window at the moon and wondering why it was the colour of Kai's ninja suit. Something seemed to push him forward, and he almost slammed into the door of the kitchen. A soft groan escaped from his parted lips as he weakly turned the cold, metal doorknob and staggered in, nearly losing his balance. He landed awkwardly on his knee and hands, drawing in a short, sharp breath. Instantly he let it out again in a violent cough, making his whole body shake. He looked up at nothing, the black simply greeted him not-so-welcomingly.

Forcing his body upward he dragged his hand over the light switch, illuminating the entire room. It temporarily blinded the poor boy, but as his sleepless eyes adjusted, he spotted a single clear medicine bottle standing on the table. He got to his feet, swiped the bottle from the table and downed its light brown contents.

He stood still for a second as the substance tainted his tongue. His vision swam into shocking clarity, though the bottle still shook in his fingers. His vision remained stained with crimson.

"JAY!"

The thunder of his name made him drop the bottle, and it clashed to the floor with a high-pitched shatter. He whirled around in a panic, forest green eyes wide.

"Who's there?" he cried, voice raspy.

Nothing but vermillion flashed before his eyes, and suddenly his vision plunged into fogginess again. His chest tightened unbelievably severely, throwing his body to the floor. He couldn't breathe.

He hacked up onto the wooden floor, and the colours seemed to swirl in sickly iridescence. Warm blood dribbled from his mouth and ran down his chin like water. The red tugged at his vision like haze as mocking laughter blasted in his ears above the sound of his own raspy breathing.

"Go away!" he screamed, clutching at his ears and squeezing his eyes shut. His throat burned and his body convulsed as it tried to force his lungs out through his throat in the most painful way possible. His head seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, whereas his body was lighter than air. He couldn't feel his feet.

The sound of a door swinging open and rushed footsteps didn't help his condition. There were yells of panic and fright. He opened his eyes to stare into green. The mahogany-tinted faces of his friends masked in horror surrounded him, blocking the blinding red light. A hand reached over. It was cool against his own feverish, moist skin. Its fingers drew away familiar red liquid, which he realised was trickling now from his eyes.

He was just so tired.

Red, red, red. It was everywhere. In his vision, on his body, in his heart, in his mind.

Jay, the first victim of scarlet fever.

**Haha don't worry, scarlet fever doesn't make you spurt blood all over the place. xD I just couldn't think of a better name for this deadly disease. Yeah. I just realised this story is stupid. FLAME AWAY! I just needed to get some...uh, sadism out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yes, I'm fully aware I need to update my other stories. I'm working on Unreal. Please be patient! And hope you enjoy!**

He paced up and down the short row of seats outside the emergency room, heart pounding away against his chest. His stomach was knotted uncomfortably, and cold sweat soaked the collar of his shirt. He looked at his hands. The stain of his brother's blood was still prominent on his skin. He hadn't bothered to wash it off. The smell of medication and antiseptic was thick in the frigid air. It made him feel sick. It was like death was everywhere, and it was supposed to be a good thing.

_Because dying in a white room with tons of machines connected to you isn't as fun as dying at home_, he thought bitterly, stopping in his tracks. His shoes made a squeaking noise on the glimmering marble floor. From beside him, Cole glanced up blearily, hood pulled up over his messy black hair, eyelids heavy with sleeplessness. He rested his head against the wall behind him, a light cough emanating from his throat. On his shoulder Lloyd half-slept, amethyst orbs half-lidded, but gazing at the door. Zane sat, back straight, beside the green ninja. His hands fell limply in his lap, and though fully conscious, his mind seemed blank.

Cole met the other's hazel gaze mutely. "Sit down," he mumbled. "Standing up isn't going to make him come out of there quicker."

_I don't care. I'm standing._

Biting his lip, he stepped towards the door. The urge to burn a hole in the horribly clean, white wood was insatiable. He couldn't take this tension. His best friend was dying in there and they didn't let him in. They didn't let them in, not Sensei, not even his parents. He tugged nervously at the strings of his red jacket, hurriedly thrown over his equally crimson pyjamas. His hands trembled with impatience. _Hurry up hurry up hurry up hurry up._

A scream from the other side made his head snap up. A huge crash followed after, causing a slight vibration of the building. The reaction from his earth brother was nearly instantaneous. The door crumbled to a million pieces right before him, and he didn't need to turn around to know that was Cole's doing. He looked into the room with wide eyes. The emergency room was a mess. A grey-haired doctor with wrinkled beige trousers, a milky-shade coat and a light green mask looked stunned. Beside him was the bed, the pure white sheets stained vermillion, but empty. A young woman clothed in white, with straight, striking red hair that nearly matched that of the substance was shaking before a fallen tray that no longer held cracked, leaking bottles and "stainless" steel tools.

But he didn't focus on any of that.

He focused on the shattered single 11x11 window in the wall covered with broken, bloody blinds.

* * *

Hood yanked over his spiky chocolate brown hair, he slipped through the streets of the sleepy city. His pyjama pants flapped tightly around his ankles in the chilled wind. He scanned the darkness, but nothing moved. Behind him lingered Cole. His clothes blended him in so well he could have been his shadow. He didn't know why the latter hadn't wished to lead, usually they would have been doggedly but stealthily speaking orders, crawling through the city in search of their runaway brother. Yet today, it seemed nobody wanted to talk at all, instead simply splitting up, knowing to meet back at the hospital when Jay was found.

If Jay was found.

He shivered at the thought of not finding Jay. _Scarlatina_, the doctor had said, _is extremely contagious and if the patient isn't put into quarantine as soon as possible, the whole city could go into ruin._

_Isn't there a cure? _he'd asked, but only to get no response whatsoever. He wanted to scream at the inky black sky. Where the hell was Jay? They had been searching for close to an hour. His stomach was tying itself into anxious knots again. He was tired and frustrated, and the fact that his disease-ridden brother was possibly still unfound didn't help.

But what scared him was that Cole had been sneezing really hard. They'd had to stop and rest a few times now. And he could see that Cole was shivering quite badly. He'd offered his jacket, and been declined. He'd offered to piggyback and gotten a smack to the back of his head. It still hurt—

Behind him, there was a huge thump.

He whirled around to see Cole's glowing, multicoloured sword clatter out of his hands onto the pavement. Said boy was kneeling on the ground, sneezing his lungs out. Really loudly.

He shoved his sword handle into his hoodie pocket and was by his brother's side in a split second. "Cole! Are you okay!?" he cried, putting a hand on the black-clothed shoulder. Cole sneezed so violently his head nearly hit the rocky pavement. His eyes widened when he saw the crimson stains. "Cole," he gasped, his desperate scream fizzling off in his throat. _NO!_

Cole sucked in a deep, painful breath. He coughed up blood and shakily glanced up at his brother, coffee-glazed pupils fading into that deep shade of scarlet. Blood trickled from his nose and mouth, but not his eyes. Instead, warm tears cascaded down his cheeks, mixing with the red plasma. His hand reached for his sword and he scooted away fearfully, squinting in fear.

"St-Stay away," he whispered, voice nearly inaudible through his wheezing. His brother reached over helplessly, but the look in his eyes shot the fire ninja straight in the heart. That same look in Jay's bleeding eyes. _Hooooly frig._

"Cole, it's—"

"AWAY!"

Cole scratched at his head, crying and bleeding all over the ground. He watched the sickness consume his brother. An odd red haze entered his mouth, making Cole choke and cough so hard it hurt him. Tears blurred his vision. This couldn't be happening. He reached for the earth ninja but he seemed too far away.

Suddenly, he became exhausted. His legs turned to jelly and he fell face-first onto the gravel. The first coughing spell struck him like a bowling ball. His stomach seemed to be eating him from inside out. A shrill sound rang incessantly in his ears.

He recognised it as his own scream.

Hands seized his shoulders and dragged him across the stony ground, letting the dirty rocks rub against his clothes. His ill red gaze focused on the two red hazes in the red sky against the red buildings in the red unbreathable air.

Blood spewed from his mouth and his chest shook with way too violent coughs. He couldn't see properly. Everything was red. He was sick.

Damn it, he was _sick_.

The warm blood leaked from his mouth like a waterfall, making red streaks along the ground. His head was thrust against it harshly, forcing his eyes open to stare into the red sky.

The eyes of his brothers stared back at him, their gazes seeming to smile. The ringing in his ears got louder and louder, and he couldn't shut it out. He felt scarlatina touch him like a puppet, playing with his limp, shaking body like he was a rag doll. The lights swirled dizzyingly. His chest was trying to force another cough out of him but he did not allow it, leaving his chest to heave fast and really quite creepily. He felt Jay stroking his bloody brown hair, giggling and coughing at the same time. He felt Cole lifting him up, the sneezing and sobbing making this awful dying noise.

As his body plunged into complete numbness, he just hoped that Zane and Lloyd would be able to run away.

Before they came for them.

Before he came.

Before it came.

He knew that soon there'd be nothing to come for.

**Oh yeah sorry about putting Cole as a character last chapter xD I was just testing out the new stuff. I've removed all characters now.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Eh. Enjoy. Sorry for not updating as often :P Remember to leave a review if you liked it! You may tear a little at the end though, just to letcha know...**

My footsteps were utterly silent as I walked through the unlit roads of Ninjago City. I glanced around at the buildings that flanked the wide, gravelly road. I could sense their presences, though the people had long gone. Since the outbreak of _scarlatina_, the entire town had been on lockdown for weeks before the citizens were finally evacuated a after an entire six months. It was horrible. Scarlet Fever had already seized the lives of three baby triplets, an elderly man, and two schoolchildren. Then the doctors began to slip away, each pair of eyes tinted with the crimson infection, and I had watched as it spread and spread and spread.

My vision faltered slightly as my gaze fell upon the small syringe in my palm. It was filled with a slippery neon green substance that made this wave of uneasiness wash over my artificial body. I did not know why.

I quickened my pace. I'd spent a lot of time coming up with this formula. I didn't wish to think about how long I'd been cooped up all by myself in that sickly lab, devoting endless hours to mixing and stirring and measuring and weighing and reading and searching and waiting and watching and failing. It did not matter. All that did now was that I found his brothers and hoped all would go well.

I hadn't ever imagined everything would turn out like this. An illness leading to the downfall of the heroic ninja. It was so...so unlikely. I hadn't ever thought I would be here in this current position, doing what I was doing, feeling what I was feeling. It just seemed too unreal to believe. Yet it was happening, my legs carrying my numb and exhausted body into the town on their own accord. Yes, it was true—over this long period of time, I had blacked out nine times. It wasn't supposed to happen. My father...he fixed me, brought me back from the blackness each time. I felt so guilty, so ashamed, so frustrated. I suspect it simply pushed me closer towards my goal however. Who knew a robot could be moved by emotion?

I thought of the people back at home, the people who still remained as my family. Jay's parents, Lloyd's parents, my father, Nya, Lou, and Dareth. My heart ached with guilt. I couldn't bring myself to tell them. I wasn't going to anyway. That I had decided a long time ago as well. I had watched my family change as the years passed. Ed and Edna had gone silent, rarely speaking and never laughing or smiling. Garmadon spent most of his days reminiscing with Misako, who did not seem to want to reminisce but did it anyway due to love for her husband. My father always waited outside the laboratory doors for me with motor oil, food and water. Nya cried herself to sleep every day. Lou did not sing or dance any more. Dareth did not proclaim to be the grand Sensei he used to call himself. And of course there was the doctor, who'd been helping me with my research for a long time. I did not consider him family, though.

The others...well, they'd all been taken. Even Lloyd, the green ninja. In his sleep. My farewells never reached his ears, for I had already been in the laboratory. And nothing distracted me from my work. The day I found out was one of the times my stubborn system shut down on me, and sometimes it would take more than 3 days to fix me.

All my life I had never felt the same way again. I had caused everybody so much pain. Why did I deserve to remain alive? I was responsible for every event that had transpired since 18 February, the day Jay complained about not being able to taste my cooking because of his blocked nose. I had shrugged that feeling off. I hadn't told anybody about all those negative signals gathered in my body. I was responsible for my brothers' sicknesses.

According to my research, I knew for a fact that Kai Igneous, Jay Walker, Cole Brookstone and Lloyd Garmadon were not dead. Their elemental powers kept them alive. Not even _scarlatina_ could destroy it, because elements were nature, and the former was just a humanly disease. The hard part would be finding them. Maybe. Another fact I had picked up from studying was that a severely infected person would pass the illness onto anybody who came into contact or into a two metre radius from the subject. Nobody could touch them unless they were dead.

So why was I on this little expedition to find my brothers? Being a nindroid I was immune to such viruses as this. The only sicknesses I had to watch out for were computer viruses or hackers. You didn't see any nowadays.

I continued down the eerily quiet roads, keeping my ears open for the slithering sound of the virus. A hiss meant infection was near. I walked and walked and walked and walked and walked. Time seemed to slow down. I dragged my feet across the rough road, but kept my eyes and ears open.

**_Warning. Power levels decreasing. Power level now at 91%._**

I quickly flicked my "Audio" switch off, the one that let me speak, to save power. I couldn't black out now. I had to stay conscious no matter what.

As I passed the tea shop, now abandoned and desolate, my sensors tingled and the soft sound of slurred rattling surrounded me. My hood was over my head, would they recognise me? Maybe, maybe not. I did not have time to mull over it anymore. The striking gleams of red in the shadows told me they were here.

A teenager with blue striped pyjamas stumbled out of the darkness towards me, his movements zombified and sluggish. His skin was pale white and thinner than paper. His eyes positively glowed cardinal. Dried blood was crusted on his hands and front of his torn shirt, on his neck and lower face. His auburn hair was terribly unkempt and long, reaching a little past his shoulders. Red stains lined his cheeks, but his expression was...chillingly cheerful.

Jay.

_"I'mcold...I...can'tbreathe...ithurts,"_ he murmured unintelligibly, sentence strung together weakly. I took a step back, intent gaze flickering to the next figure.

A teenager seemed to stagger towards me, albeit more slowly than Jay. His messy black bangs hung over his crimson pupils, which were the same shade as the ripped sleeves of his ninja suit. His fingers feebly grasped the handle of a scythe, the wood bloody. The dried red substance made a seemingly permanent mark on his upper lip, trickling down from his nose and mouth. The expression on his face was pure terror and hurt.

Cole...

_"Goaway...Ican'tsee...ithurts," _he whimpered, the agony showing through his voice.

I took another step back.

The third teenager to stumble out was wearing a red ninja suit. His spiked, ratty hair was longer and rattier, and he was grimacing in the most intense way possible. Blood came down through various rips and tears in the boy's clothes, from the numerous scratches and cuts on his face and arms and, as usual, his mouth.

Kai..!

"I'mtired...I'msick...ithurts," he slurred painfully.

I took yet another step back, but stopped when my body collided with a soft, cold being. I whirled around to lock eyes with Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon. He was not bleeding at all, nor did his face carry any sort of emotion whatsoever.

"It hurts," he whispered bitterly, his eyes flashing a brilliant amethyst.

Time to end this...

Without another moment's thought, I pulled out the syringe and jabbed it into Lloyd's side. His impassive face drastically morphed into that of what seemed like a screaming child as he toppled backwards onto the road. I then spun around, aimed, and simultaneously shot the other three syringes I had straight at them. They all screamed and fell, but did not attempt to remove the syringe. I watched the liquids disperse as their bodies gladly absorbed the antidote. There was a shrill echo-shriek, and the red haze was lifted up out of their mouths and into the air above my head. I yanked the fairly large can of the green liquid off my back and sprayed it all into the haze. A fizzling noise filled the air before silence took its place again, save for my heavy breathing.

I paused, frozen with hands latched onto the oversized spray can. My brothers didn't move or make a sound. I felt my knees hit the ground.

Had I failed?

I dropped the can and rearranged my legs into a cross-legged position, fatigue finally catching up to me.

Warning! System shutdown imminent! Power levels decreasing rapidly. Now at 76%.

When they awoke, healthy again, I'd be right here. I ran my hand along the smooth surface of the canister, smiling as the voice within my head that did not belong to me yelled that I was going down. I couldn't have failed, right? It had to work. It had to.

Yes.

Power levels at 65%.

Quiet you, I growled mentally.

I searched myself for any more switches that could subdue my power loss. "Hearing", "Smell" and "Taste" all went off.

Power level drainage has been subdued. Power remains decreasing at 60%.

The other switches were vital, so I kept them on. My power would have to do at 60% for now, I supposed. I stared up at the inky sky. It was still quiet. The seconds ticked by achingly. I crunched the gravel under my fingers.

What if it hadn't worked?

I dragged my knuckles along the road.

_What if they didn't wake up?_

Still nothing.

_What if it was too late?_

_It has to work,_ I whispered, _it has to, it has to, it _has_ to._ _They need to come back..._

My eyelids fluttered. I rubbed my eyes numerous times. I didn't really know how much time had passed until I felt the warm glow of the morning sun's rays pass over my body in a stream of light. My body went numb. I fidgeted uneasily, glancing at the figures beside me again.

_**Power levels at 49%.**_

Their faces and bodies were now clean of any blood or scars. I touched Cole's hand gently to see if there was any sign of him waking up.

His hand was cold and stiff.

I noticed the pale green liquid leaking from his unmoving mouth. The syringe had been left in his chest, as had the others. It was empty.

They'd been dead ever since.

The medicine had killed them.

Or had they been dead from the start?

It hadn't worked.

Warm water trickled down my cheeks as the sun gradually rose higher and higher into the orange sky. Failure came like a thousand daggers all trying to force their way into my bionic heart all at once. I stared at my inert brothers' bodies, feeling my own slump down onto the ground slowly.

It hurt.

The sound of a ship's motor nearly didn't reach my ears over the sound of my own quiet sobbing.


End file.
